As the Ship Sails
by cup-of-earl-grey-tea
Summary: Arthur Kirkland, one of the most ruthless and unforgiving pirates has taken over a small village in japan feeling as if he's one step closer to ruling the world. But as things go wrong and his life as well as a powerful soldier by the name of Honda Kiku collide, a few problems might arise out at sea. Rated M for language and sexual content later on in the story.
1. Chapter 1

((So I guess you consider this my first fic... Well first one I'm actually comfortable letting people read. Please bear with me as I try to update this.))

It was everywhere. Fire ravished all of the buildings in the small village. People screamed in utter terror as they saw their homes collapse and their families killed in the tragedies. Some were killed right on the spot by the gang of ruthless pirates raiding the once-peaceful village. Some were women... Some were children. The bravest men tried standing up to them, but had no chance. Many began to flee into the surrounding woods seeking protection from the band of pirates, but only a few actually did so... Standing at the edge of the old wooden dock was none other than the Captain of the ship, a filthy grin on his face. The feeling of gaining more territory and more power really made him happy. He felt this feeling surge through his whole body as he overlooked the chaos. It was just his luck that all of the armies were away dealing with other duties in distant lands, for he had nothing to fear. No one could stand up to them, and if any one of his crew members did happen to get harmed, it was only the careless ones who were just there for the look of power. Those men honestly meant nothing to him. As the ruthless pirate walked into the scene, he caught the gaze of the terrified citizens crying out to him for help, but he just ignored them completely. Occasionally, he would look over, acknowledge them, and continue walking on to the center of town. This city was his, and nothing was going to change that.

By the middle of the night, things had died down in the town. Most of the fires had burned out, leaving only the smoldering skeletons of what used to be lovely households laying on the cold ground. The thick smoke had cleared, revealing the bodies scattered across the landscape, their blood-stained kimonos catching the eye of anyone of the passing pirates. From what the Captain saw, all life was gone. There was no hope for the town whatsoever.

"Men! Bring whatever loot you can salvage back to the ship!" With that order, all of the Captain's men began to rummage through the remains, grabbing anything that could be used to their advantage or sold in one of the markets back home. As the men readied themselves and began bringing back their treasures to the ship, the Captain followed, that crooked grin still on his face.

At the end of the dock was his ship, The Bloody Corsair, neatly tied up alongside the small fishing boats the people in the town owned. Glancing at them, he shook his head and chuckled. Nothing could ever be as magnificent as The Bloody Corsair. It's mast strong, its wood perfect and smooth, the steering flawless, and not to mention, it had a marvelous crew on board. Everyone listened to his orders, for they knew that if they didn't, things wouldn't look too pretty for them. And they managed to get their jobs done easily, leaving little manual work for the Captain to actually do for himself besides mapping their courses and steering, which he didn't mind at all. Proudly walking up the wooden plank connecting the dock to the ship, the Captain made his way to the highest deck on board where the wheel was located.

"Men, tonight, we shall bask in our glory, for Japan now knows of our name! From now on, they shall remember us only through their darkest nightmares and only speak of us in times of chaos. We truly have done a remarkable job tonight! Now remember these words as we set sail tonight and you return to your bunks for a bit of shut eye." As the men cheered in honor of their victory, the Captain shooed them off to untie the ship from the dock, enabling them to take sail for the night. Although they had completely mutilated the town, he didn't want to risk any survivors fetching soldiers from other towns to come and destroy their fleet. On the main deck, men pulled in the heavy ropes thrown over the sides of the ship by men on the dock, ready to push off and leave the smoldering village. Other groups began to heave in the anchor nestled snugly under the gentle waves. Some of them climbed up the mast, untying ropes holding back the large sails. When the anchor was up and the boat was pushed away, wind caught the sail and began to push the large vessel forwards into the darkened sea. Tonight, they could finally relax.

After wishing some of his crew a good night, the Captain began to make his way to his quarters, finally getting to receive that long awaited slumber he had dreamed of for quite some time. Upon the time of reaching the door, the Captain's secondhand mate tapped him on the shoulder, catching his attention.

"Aye? What do you need, Nathaniel? Can't you see I'm a bit busy right at this moment?"

"Sorry, Captain."

"I told you that my name is Arthur and I would prefer if you called me that."

The stout man looked down, feeling ashamed of himself. "Sorry, Arthur. I was just wondering where we'll be headed next. I was going to set the course for tonight so we don't get too off track..."

Letting out a laugh, Arthur smiled at him. "Well... We could always start heading back West, but I doubt anyone there would really like to see me. Well I guess that's true for England... I don't know... We could head back that way. I bet everyone there's been wondering where the hell The Bloody Corsair has been and why they haven't seen us back raiding them of their loot! Set course for London this instant." With a nod, Nathaniel hurried up to the deck, a compass in hand ready to take them back to their origins. Shaking his head at the man, Arthur opened his door revealing his room he had so longed to see. For the past few nights, he had been up making sure that they truly were near Japan and there truly was a town on the coast ahead. Removing his hat from his head, Arthur let out a sigh and ran his hands through his greasy hair. It was such a relief to just relax... Slowly, the pirate slid his decorative coat off his shoulders and sat it down on his desk's chair. Sitting down with it, he looked down at his feet and began to take off his leather boots. He really needed to do this more often. But as he began to slide the second one off his foot, there was only a short period of time before he realized what had happened. Behind him came a slight rustling sound and the slight ping of metal rubbing up against a hard surface. In one swift motion, a sword had appeared before his face, just under his chin threatening to slice his neck open if need be. Around his waist was a small hand, clothed by what appeared to be some sort of naval uniform. When Arthur realized where this person had actually came from, he looked over to see a pair of deep brown eyes glaring at him, a slight hint of red visible in the iris. Sleek black hair framed the face of the cunning Japanese man as he held the pirate in his place, making sure he wasn't about to move. Showing no expression other than hate, the man remained as he was, saying absolutely nothing to the pirate.

"Hello... Friend..."


	2. Chapter 2

Never in a million years would Arthur have guessed that any man in that village would have been daring enough to have sneaked onto a ship such as his. Sure, he had seen it before throughout the years, but usually it only happened with other pirates, whom were usually drunk and out of their minds. But no, this man happened to be a fully trained soldier whom was wielding a katana; something he was never expecting to encounter on such a occasion.

Letting out a quiet laugh, the captain glanced up at the Japanese man. "So... I see you caught me red-handed. I bet you're pretty angry, aren't you?" He got no response from him. "Hey. I'm talking to you. You better listen to me, you damned idiot!" He still got nothing, not even the simplest reply. The only thing he noticed about this man was his glare, which seemed to have grown colder by each second the two were together. Finally, the captain decided that he wasn't about to stand such treatment, so he pushed the Japanese man back. Nearly slicing his neck, the katana slid away from him as the man stumbled behind him. Being quick to his feet, Arthur drew his own sword out from its sheath tightly wrapped around his waist. Holding it out in front of him, he smirked at the Japanese soldier.

"Honestly, you think you can take on me and my whole crew of men by yourself? I saw your town. It's gone. Completely. You're the only bugger left over from all that chaos, so why even try?" At the sound of the Brit's words, the Japanese man flung his body at the captain, his katana at the ready. With all of his might, he clashed the sword against his, knocking the captain back. "Wow... The little man has some strength inside him... Who would have known..." With a scowl of evil plastered onto his face, the soldier let out an agonizing noise of distress and anger and repeated his earlier action. This time instead of falling back, the pirate put forth his strength and made the two swords clash. Smirking, he was the first to strike in the next round of their duel, but the Japanese man showed no signs of pain or resistance, so they continued this for quite some time.

"Tired yet?" Arthur smiled at the other, who still looked the same as he had done so before, but it was still fun to tease his opponents one way or another. It always seemed to distract them some way or another. But he still showed no signs of backing off. It was almost if his words made him thrive, for he was swinging harder than ever. "You fool... You stand no chance against me. Just stop trying." With those words, the smooth blade of the katana sliced through the white fabric of his ruffled shirt, brazing his skin. Glancing at his arm, now oozing blood, he shook his head and looked at the soldier, who was quite proud of his small victory. Paying no attention to the blood, Arthur ran straight at the man, completely knocking him off of his feet, the two of them landing on the cold ground. Before the other man could grab his katana, the pirate held his right under the soldier's chin. "Gotcha." Slowly, the struggling Japanese man laid his head back on the ground tired of fighting against a force he knew he had no chance of beating in his current position. Putting one hand on the soldier's shoulder, Arthur held him down as he sat up. Glancing at his arm and back to the man, he smirked. "And you thought _that_ could bring me down?" Letting out a scoff, he shook his head and kicked his katana away. Not reacting whatsoever, the Japanese man just scowled at him, his dark eyes piercing holes into his very being. "Now what shall become of you..." There were a few options available to him, but being unsure of what he could actually do with him, he took a moment to think. "Hm... Well we could always toss you overboard..." No... That wasn't that good of a plan. That would do nothing to his advantage, unless you counted taking another life away a favor to him. Even if he did decide to do so and he didn't weigh him down as he pushed him into the water, it still was risky due to the fact he had no idea if the man could swim. This obviously wasn't a good idea... He couldn't let his crew get harmed like that And then a thought hit him. He could hold the man captive on board as his own personal servant, potentially appointing him to a working cabin boy in the future all depending on how he acted.

"You, my sir, are being spared today. From now on, you'll be apart of the Kirkland crew aboard The Bloody Corsair. How's that? You're pretty little face won't be ruined on this glorious night."

Glaring up at the captain, the Japanese man said nothing. Pushing up on his heels, Arthur hovered over the man and pulled him up by one of his arms. By this point, the man just decided to give up. With his head held low, he allowed the pirate to do whatever he wanted, which mean his two hands were tied tightly behind his back and the captain began walking him out the door. Out of the corner of his eyes, Arthur saw him glancing at his katana laying across the room. Before he could get any ideas, he ushered his new prisoner out the door and to a room on the left. Once he got the old wooden door open, the pirate shoved him inside, causing him to fall onto the ground. Turning over to a nearby shelf, Arthur quickly lit an old lantern and looked down at him. The room was quickly illuminated, revealing absolutely nothing besides the soldier and the bare walls surrounding him. In one corner, water dripped down from a crack above, creating a small pool of sea water. But apart from that, there was nothing special to the room.

"Welcome home. From now on, this shall be your living quarters... Well until I decide on what I'm actually going to do with you. Untill that time comes, there is no leaving this room unless I allow it and no treating any of my crew mates like rubbish, alright? I'll come and check on you in the morning. Have a nice rest." And with that, he closed the door behind him and locked the old musty room up behind him. What on Earth did he just get himself into? Shaking his head, Arthur climbed up to the top deck to find Nathaniel guiding his ship around the smooth waters.

Noticing his presence, the secondhand mate turned to face him. "Sir, do you need something?"

"Aye... We've got a wee bit of a problem on board..."

"God dammit... Don't tell me those troublemakers are drinking all the ale again... I figured they would have learned last time they did that. I swear to go- Arthur...? Why is your arm bleeding...?"

"That's the problem... Well you see, we had a bit of a stowaway on board who nearly sliced not just my arm off, but my neck... I have him locked down in the storage room next to my quarters, but please make sure no one knows about him until morning..."

"Why the hell are we keeping him on board? Isn't that a risky maneuver itself?"

"Aye, it sure is, but I've always needed someone to clean up those horrid messes aboard and do whatever I need. And I'd rather not kill another again. Hell, he's pretty damn strong. From the looks of it, he's military trained; fully armed with a katana. He knows his stuff, Nathaniel."

"How on Earth are you going to train him to do such things like fight on your side? He saw what you did to his people. You burned down his god damned village!"

"That's where I'm at a loss... And that's another reason I don't want the others to know about him. There's still some sort of hope he doesn't totally hate us, although he did take a sword to my neck..."

"Just think about it tonight, although I'm pretty damn sure he despises you right about now I'll make sure no one's poking around the room tonight, alright? You locked it up all tight?" Smirking, Arthur held up the key to the room and glanced back towards the old wooden door.

"Of course, Nathaniel. No fool would leave such precious cargo out in the open. Now I'm going to turn in for the night. I have faith in you... Oh, and make sure Johnathan stays _away_ from the mast... We all remembered what happened last time.

"Aye. Sleep well, Captain."

As Arthur returned to his quarters, he immediately began to dress his wound, wrapping it up tightly. That sword was mighty powerful... Glancing down at it, he picked it up and ran his hand down the flat side of the blade, his fingers touching every single detail carved into it. It was true craftsmanship... A beautiful piece used for such deadly reasons. But he sure loved it. Carefully, he sat it down upon his wooden desk, not wanting to deal with it at the moment. Sleep was calling him for the night and was something he was in desperate need of. The fate of the soldier was to be decided upon tomorrow. Maybe things would fall into his favors.


End file.
